Select Matters
- Strike violence: Personally sued and recovered a judgment against a union representative for the federal tort of piracy (1984); personally sued and defended against a local union steward proven to have procured and distributed tire puncturing devices to damage vehicles entering and leaving a client’s manufacturing plant (1994)
- HR Training: Taught a course for trade association members on Statistical Process Control of Human Resources Practices (1992-1994); taught another course for the same group on rules for handling employee wage deduction assignments and orders (1996-2004)
- Labor contracts: Lead negotiator for steel processing plant (2010 – present); heavy industrial equipment fabricator (2002 – present) and caucus room advisor for a major poultry processor (1992 – present)
- Affordable Care Act: Translated ACA employer mandate regulations into Boolean logic statements for coding by an HRIS software developer. (2014)
- FLSA litigation: Consolidated before the Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation, and then litigated to a successful conclusion overtime claims asserted against a large poultry processor by thousands of its current and former employees. (2006-2011). In a separate case, established new law leading to amendment of the Arkansas minimum wage statute.
- EEOC Class Action Defenses: Sex harassment (2014-2015); ADA attendance plan administration (2019-2021).
- Unfair Competition: Prosecuted to prompt civil settlement a former IT engineer who misappropriated and plotted to transfer a trade secret process for installing a popular secure networking environment (2019) used by government and large non-governmental organizations.
- Benefit Trust Regulation: Legal management of the wind-down and de-registration of a self-funded workers’ compensation group insurance trust.
- Affordable Care Act: Collective bargaining of group health plan changes provoked by the ACA. (2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)
- Sarbanes-Oxley Act: Successfully defended a public company in a whistleblower investigation of alleged accounting and securities fraud. (2010)
- Affordable Care Act: Helped AIR Transmitters troubleshoot their forms, templates, and online services in preparation for generating and uploading 2015 Forms 1094-C and 1095-C (2015, 2016)
- Affordable Care Act: Helped smaller large employers assemble the required data and manually generate their 2015 Forms 1094-C and 1095-C (2015, 2016)
- Affordable Care Act: Defended a public university in an HHS investigation of ACA section 1557 compliance (2015)
- Affordable Care Act: Persuaded IRS to abate a nearly seven figure late reporting penalty
Publications
News
Speaking Engagements
Credentials
Education
- University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 1982
- University of Mississippi, B.A., 1979, English, History, and Political Science; Latin minor
Courts
- U.S. Supreme Court, 2001
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, 1982
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Mississippi, 1983
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of Mississippi, 1983
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, 1982
- U.S. District Court, Western District of Louisiana, 1982
- U.S. District Court, Western District of Tennessee, 1983
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Alabama, 2020
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, 2023
- U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, 2023
Bar Admissions
- Louisiana, 1982
- Mississippi, 1986
- Texas, 2008
- Arkansas, 2013
- Alabama, 2019
- Tennessee, 2022
Professional Affiliations
- Mississippi Bar Association, Labor and Employment Section, past chairman
- Federalist Society of Mississippi, founder
- Federalist Society, Chairman, Labor & Employment Practice Group Executive Committee, 2019 – present
Awards & Accolades
- Chambers USA, Labor & Employment
- Mid-South Super Lawyers, 2006 - present
- The Best Lawyers in America®, Copyright Law, Employment Law – Management, Labor Law – Management, Litigation – Labor and Employment, 2009 - present
- JD Supra Top Author, Readers’ Choice Awards, Affordable Care Act, 2017
- Thomson Reuters Stand Out Lawyer
Community Involvement
- 800 Park Condominium Association President
- Young Life Oxford, MS (volunteer assistant)
- Boy Scout Troop 8, assistant scoutmaster (retired)
- Jackson Metro Cyclists, president (retired)
- North Jackson Youth Baseball, coach (retired)
- Men’s Senior Baseball League, manager (retired)
- Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church, deacon (retired)
- Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church, orchestra (retired)
- Sons of the King, “at risk” youth ministry, board (retired)